INKISH.TV proudly presents: CEO Jarkko Hakola from Print & Media · Helsinki, Finland
âAfter 2008 sales wasnât easy and sales dropped more than 50%â. Listen to how Print & Media in Finland managed to become a unique and important player in the Finish printing industry. CEO, Owner and Editor Jarkko Hakola from Print & Media in Finland, publish a magazine for the printing industry. Listen to his insights and as usual, please Watch, Like and Share.
0:42 My name is Jarkko, and IĂm the publisher of Print & Media magazine.
0:49 Itâs our magazine for the graphic arts field in Finland, in Finnish language. And, we do the magazine nine issues per year, and we have the daily news on our website and weekly newsletter.
1:14 Yes. It sounds ñ Many of my friends are asking that, ĂŹIsnĂt it very hard to be publishing a magazine these days?Ăź But, as a professional magazine for a certain area and for the printing area, I see that the professional magazines are not disappearing and the newspapers have more challenge, because the instant news come to our iPads and iPhones. So, the professional news in Finnish language, you donât get to that without the proper media.
2:11 Some of our subscribers or readers also looked at some English sites, but still Finnish language is our language, so itĂs the most easiest to follow the Finnish language media. Itâs also very important for our business that we can add some extra with our own language.
2:47 I started in 2006 with the AGI Finland. So, I have known Mr. Peter Ollen from Sweden, almost ten years. And then, in 2011, two of the strongest media in Finland, AGI and Painomaailma, joined their forces and Print & Media was born. Then ñ Well, I felt the whole Print & Media as my heartĂs project. IĂve put my soul and heart into it, and I felt like itâs my own thing. Then, in 2013 I got to ñ I had a possibility to buy the business, and I did it. And, it has been the best decision of my working career.
3:52 IsnĂt that just nice?
3:53 Yes. Very motivating.
3:59 Well, advertisers are very, very important. Itâs more than 50% of our turnover. But then, the subscribers and the readers, say, they are like one-third of the business. So, they form the decent foundation of the holding. Well, I just actually look at the numbers. So, it has been quite the same the past 10 years, almost.
4:35 We also launched a new service in Finland called Pack News. Itâs for the packaging industry. We have the packnews.fi. Itâs a collaboration with the Swedish Pack News, and itâs actually now in every Nordic country, in Denmark also and Norway, Sweden, Finland. And, we use the Pack News information in our Print & Media magazine. So, we are now covering the whole graphic arts, from design to the printing and packaging and distribution. Besides the magazine and online news, we organize seminars. I would like to have actually more seminars, like maybe two per year. Now, it has been like one per year. And, we just organized the Sales Morning seminar two weeks ago, and a four hours morning seminar. I think thatâs the form I would like to continue.
5:52 Some presentations about the new ways to do the business-to-business sales. What are the new tools within the IT? I would mention like the chat on your website. And then, we had some education on how to measure sales. We had a very good speech from the ex-sales manager from printing house, and he had done very successful measuring the sales. So, it was very important for the CEOs and the sales managers.
6:40 Yes. Yes. And, different kind of topics. Maybe next one can be some technical topic, and maybe web-to-print would be one of the topics.
6:58 Yes. Iâve seen some. I remember that 2006, 2007, a bit 2008 also, thereĂs ñ I remember that the sales were quite easy, also for the advertising sales point of view. But, after that it dropped like more than 50%. It was a huge drop. And, as you said, the phone catalogs and those have totally disappeared. But then, print is just not magazines and catalogs, itĂs ñ We print on fabric. ThereĂs the packaging side which is a very growing market area. You see that the e-commerce is growing, but still if you order product to your home, itâs packed to something. And, the packaging is very important for the brands. For some brands, itâs the only marketing tool. Itâs the actually packaged product. So, I see a huge possibilities within printing.
8:20 Some are more open than others our for the new ideas. But, I think the Finnish mentality is that we donĂt speak out loud our feelings or ideas. So, I think Finnish industry is very keen to have new ideas, but maybe they are silent when they are hearing it. But, it will stick to their head and maybe challenge them to do something.
8:56 I think we have to have more online services, because many of our followers search information from the web, and of course I would like to see them coming to our website or whatever the service online it is. And, the magazine, I want to still make it as good as it is right now and better. Right now, we publish nine issues a year, and letâs see if that is the right amount. Right now, it feels it is.
9:49 Yes. From the technological point of view, I would say that the automation of the whole workflow, that is one of the key to be efficient and get more income, and not just the ñ Well, because the pricing is pushed so low, you have to automate your whole workflow to get the money from the production. But then, the other thing, Finnish are not the best in sales and marketing. So, thatâs very critical to worry. Lead the sales better. I think that comes from the leading managers, how they organize the whole sales and also the marketing. So, those are the two keys. And, well of course thereĂs web-to-print. Finnish printing houses, they have web-to-print systems, but those are not public systems. So, I think there would be a room also for the public system. But, I donât know what is the ñ Maybe, theyĂre afraid something about the pricing thing. But then, in the other hand, in our seminar, in the Sales Morning seminar, we have had Gelato Group from Norway presenting their model, and they come from Norway, more expensive than Finland. So, I think that such excellent ideas could come also from Finland and other Nordic countries.

















